Check out our interview with LOST IN KIEV, a French instrumental post rock band, hailing from the beautiful city of Paris. The interview was conducted on September 20th, 2012. We talked about their new album โMotionsโ, touring, why do the French hate the British and more ;)
Press play and check out what the guys have to say.
Hey! How are you, guys? Howโs the first month after the โMotionsโ premiere going? [smiles] Are you happy with the feedback you get?
Hi ! Weโre fine, thanks for asking =) This first month was quite awesome. We received a lot of nice feedback about “Motions”. We were seriously thrilled to get such a great reception. Mostly people like the albumโs tight production, the voice samples and the new songs like A mere shift of Origin or The Day I Ruined My Life. So far, we feel very lucky for a first LP.
Great! So tell us, whatโs the main idea behind the outing?
Motions is a collection of different stories about traveling. Each song feature a character who (has) experience(d) the need to move to another place in order to give a bright new turn to his life, to escape from his past or fight for its right. This topic came out because we all has been dealing with departure, long distance relationship so it was kind of obvious. This topic fits also with the shape of our songs which goes from an atmosphere to another, like a person on a trip.
How long did it take you to finish those 8 tracks? Was it a struggle?
Because of some line-up changes along the 5 years of the band existence, we mostly struggle to keep forward on the songwriting. We can say that there is two chapters in LOST IN KIEVโs life : the first, with the two previous guitar players, that result with ยซ Iโm Stuck ยป, ยซ Underclose Surveillance ยป and ยซ Theyโre Coming ยป. With the actual guitar players and the keyboard player, we write ยซ A Mere Shift Of Origin ยป, ยซ Hope, Fights & Disillusions ยป and ยซ The Day I Ruined My Life ยป. Some differences between this two ยซ eras ยป can be heard but we try to keep our trademark : a mix of post-rock melancholic moments and post-hardcore heaviness.
What is the origin story of your name? Tell us your back story.
We chose LOST IN KIEV for 2 reasons : first, because one of our previous guitarist
ย dated an Ukrainian girl. On a winter holiday trip, he was forced to remain in Kiev because of a snowstorm. We didnโt get any news from him during some days, so we assumed that he was ยซ lost in Kiev ยป. For the record, the Ukrainian girl became his wife and that actually her who speak some Russian words on the introduction song of Motions : ยซ > ยป. Then we considered that this name fits very well to our music : cold, obscure and cinematographic, like a movie title.
What French bands do you have best friends in?
Weโre pretty close to guys from ZERO ABSOLU, DONKEY PUNCH, JEAN JEANโฆ
Youโve booked some shows with ABRAHAM, AREA and more bands for this October. Any chances for a bigger European trek sometime soon?
Yeah, for sure, weโd love to go for a full European tour. With “Motions”โ release, we really hope to get knew by more Europeans ยซ good music ยป lovers. We plan to do an east-European tour in 2013โs spring with ZERO ABSOLU. We hope to have the chance to play in Kiev at this occasion. Circle completed !
Have you had your dream live appearance yet? Supporting your beloved band, for instance?
Weโve already played for a lot of great bands we really love like MAYBESHEWILL, LISTENER or ROSETTA. We also recently had the pleasure to open for very good French bands: TANG and MICROFILM. About a ยซ dream live appearance ยป, letโs say ENVY, CULT OF LUNA, NEUROSIS, RED SPAROWES, SIGUR ROS, RADIOHEAD us on the same billโฆ
[laughs] A killer line-up [smiles]
What other music projects, besides LOST IN KIEV, do you have in the works?
We all make some music besides LOST IN KIEV but nothing accomplished right now. Work in progressโฆ
OK, no names, I understand [smiles]. Please recommend some cool local artists for us.
Ok, give a try to VALVE, JEAN JEAN, ZERO ABSOLU, KWOON, BOKANOVSKY, KID NORTH, DAWNSHAPE, SELENITES, ARMS OF RA, ROBOT ORCHESTRA, BLACK DEAD FISH.
Are you familiar with a band called TIDES FROM NEBULA? Just out of curiosity. As they are my acquaintances, plus one of the most interesting European post rock bands at the moment, I just need to ask you about them [smiles].
We were supposed to play with them in Bordeaux few months ago but it finally didn’t happen. We hope we can do this in the future because we really like their music, especially the album Aura. Moreover, one of our guitarist knows Poland very well, so we apparently have a lot in common.
Cool.
Are you a fan of heavier music? Do you go to hardcore shows from time to time?
Yes, a little circle-pit from time to time, itโs always a pleasure ^^. When it comes to louder sound we put DOPPLER, GOJIRA, DEAFHEAVEN, CELESTE, MESHUGGAH, THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN, AUCAN, DEVIL SOLD HIS SOUL, COMEBACK KIDโฆ
Paris was one of the stops during my honeymoon last August [smiles]. 4 magic days at Montmartre and I have to say that I love the place [smiles]. What are your favorite spots in the city? What should I visit next time Iโm in Paris?
I actually live near Montmartre and I confirm: itโs a nice and great place to live (and go out, of course). Next time, you should give a try to some other cool spots : Bastille, la Butte aux Cailles, rue Oberkampf, Quais de Seine (near to Bibliothรจque de France)โฆ Next time youโre here, give us a call, weโll show you some cheap and nice bars [laughs].
Why do French hate English so much? [laughs]
Because they created rockโnโroll, you are better dressed and everyone speaks English.
[laughs] Fair enough.
Thanks so much! Nowโs the time to add anything you’d like to be discussed ad I forgot about it [smiles].
Nothing to add except thanks a lot for supporting us. We hope to come to Poland one day to make you discover “Motions” in live. Take care!
Live photo by HanaOfAngel.com
